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Author: Andru

When I saw this quote a particular friend came to my mind. What a perfect opportunity to give it to him as a gift! He has a “personal quote” rather similar so I liked the idea but I could have chosen his quote as well (actually I thought of this afterwards, hehe).

A couple of months ago a new Poundworld opened nearby and when on an exploring mission, I was surprised by the wide range of objects at such a low price! (sometimes below or over a pound). I got a nice thin canvas and 12 acrylic paints for only £2!

At the beginning I wanted to try with proper calligraphy, but then I realised not only my calligraphy skills were so good, nor my ability of using a brush and acrylic paint, so I decided to draw it and then paint it. If I have had more time, I would have mixed the colours and have a nice gradient transition. There will always be another chance to try 😉

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Finally after seeing many different projects with this trendy technique, I had the chance to make my very own!

As my project included a quote rather than an image, I’ve decided to mix the colours instead of doing a rainbow rain as the majority of the pictures I’ve found have.

First break the crayons in little pieces that you are going to “spread” all over the canvas. Crayons are wax, so you don’t need to cover every single space, when it melts it will expand. I have placed them around 4-5 cm apart from each other. But it will depend of the number of crayons and the size of the canvas. I was also aware that putting the crayons too close would potentially led to “over” mixing the colours and end up with an odd tone, so I preferred to be more in control of that.

Once you’ve decided where you are going to place the crayons, you should use hot glue to fix them to the canvas. Otherwise when the hair drier is on, they will fly away. Try to use only a tiny bit, enough to fix them but not too much that will add extra (unwanted) texture. I’ve followed this tutorial to guide me, though is a different project. I didn’t use any sponges as I did not want to mix the colours that much.

Once everything is ready, turn the hair drier on and focus it in a section at a time. It will take a while to melt (depending on it’s power) but once it’s ready, it’ll be almost like water and you can play and direct the flow of the colour as you please.

It is important to bear in mind that is better to let it cool and change it afterwards if not convinced, that over mixing the colours in one go. You can always reheat and keep on working on how you spread the colours. That gave me some peace of mind as not to rush 🙂

Once you’ve covered the whole canvas, let it dry! it wont take long.

In this project, I wanted to write a quote with acrylic paint. I wasn’t sure if it was going to be a problem to paint on top of wax. I’m not particularly good at painting nor handling a brush and I’m quite perfectionist, so it took me some time to draw the letters first and then colour them carefully. At the end the letters could have been slightly bigger, but well, I was afraid I would ran out of space.

To highlight the letters (as I didn’t have white paint) I’ve used correction fluid and a toothpick to draw the lines. It was easier to handle it as paint, I thought it was going to dry in the middle of it.

Et voilà! you have a lovely colourful canvas with a quote that you like. I’ve lost the pictures of the final version (sharing the camera, my bad) but I crossed out the “with” so it reads “Be someone that makes you happy” ^_^

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I have realised after a long time that I haven’t uploaded the pictures of these lovely frames I did last year! I think they are definitely one of my favourites crafts from the last years. They are really easy and fast to knit and they look gorgeous! You can actually make any pattern that you fancy and it will always be a unique present with a vintage touch 😉

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This is a quick and easy present, a “pensiero” as they call it in Italian which means “a thought”. I love that expression because that’s exactly what it is, a little reminder that I’ve been thinking about someone.

As I could not find anything circular that I could use and had no time to buy anything, I took the always useful polymorph plastic (has different names) that gets malleable with hot water.

Then I took a package of lace that you can find in Pounland or anything similar. I chose a medium width and the right length to wrap the circle and secure it with super glue. As it was cotton lace it stayed there.

the last bit is the easiest part, you just have to fold half of the lace that you’ve got (I previously cut it in different lengths) and then pass it through the ring making a knot when you fasten it. They more you pull, the flatter the knot is. Finally I added some butterflies (also found in pounland) just to give an extra detail. The original idea was to do a dream catcher but I didn’t have the appropriate thread, so that was the plan b.

As i had some extra lace when I wrapped the circle I decided to sew it to make it easier to hang, but it is not particularly necessary.

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Nothing worse that a whim without all the ingredients. Luckily, internet is always here to save us. I have tried the Minimalist Baker’s recipe, because I didn’t have eggs, and it turned out to be great and really easy to make!

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Second attempt to make baby shoes. I keep on changing stitches and re thinking the best way of making them. Still not completely convinced and unable to make them look the same, but I’m getting there ^^

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After checking several designs and not being convinced by any of them, I decided to do a very simple one; I knitted 3 “branches” of simple crochet, and then made a braid. I sewed the clip and left a loop on the other side to attach the pacifier.

It is not a particular nor an amazing thing, but it is easy to make and to give as a present to let someone know that you have them in mind 🙂

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I’ve been asked to make the bouquets of a wedding that I’m attending as a bridesmaid. At the beginning I thought the challenge was bigger than my abilities to be honest, but thankfully, this modern civilisation has thought of lots of alternatives to make our lives easier and cheaper (and programmed to obsolete, but that’s another story). When I was told I didn’t need to work with real flowers all the perspective changed; these foam flowers look so real and pretty! Also, I wouldn’t have to worry too much about damaging them or figuring out how to keep them from rotten, so that was fine.

Here are the results of the bridesmaids bouquets, I still have to make the bride’s one, which is a bit more complicated but hopefully with this positive experience it will end up being gorgeous and that she will like it. Fingers crossed! ^^